Misunderstanding
by tigeracid08
Summary: Beth gets slightly jealous when she notices another woman all over Daryl. One- Shot that's slightly AU. Set when the group reaches Alexandria.


Beth smiled at the shame-faced looking sister that stepped into the kitchen. Her face was glowing, but there was that look of guilt there that Beth knew all to well. Living in close quarters for the past three years, you became accustomed to having others hear everything that you did at night, even if the shyness never faded away. At the moment that was exactly what Maggie's problem was as she leaned over the counter to her baby sister.

"Sorry about last night," she whispered. Beth fiddled with the pan of eggs for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

"No biggie," she began, giving Maggie a side glance. "I didn't hear a thing anyways."

Maggie's grin grew bigger and before Beth could move away, Maggie slapped her in the arm.

"Really?" Maggie asked, unable to believe her and Glen's all-nighter went unheard.

"Really," Beth confirmed, her smile growing even bigger. Maggie shook her head, and came over to help her sister with the morning breakfast. Before long Glen joined them, sitting on one of the bar stools and laying his head onto the counter.

" Did somebody have a rough night?" Beth asked which earned her a nudge from Maggie.

Glen glared at her, but otherwise chose not to comment as Maggie passed him a cup of coffee. Glen took a small sip and looked toward Maggie in disbelief.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked, looking between both sisters.

"There was a welcoming committee up here early this morning. They left us some food and what not in a couple of boxes." Beth motioned toward the boxes she'd yet to go through.

Glen smiled at the gesture, and took another drink from his cup. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"Just don't get too comfortable," Maggie said, pointing the knife she was using to cut up some fruit at Glen and then Beth. "Remember what Rick said about keeping our guards up."

"Like you have to remind me," Beth said, throwing the spatula she was using into the sink. She walked over with the last two omelets, and pushed them onto the plate.

"Hungry, Beth?" Glen asked, when he noticed the extra set amount of food on the small girl's plate.

Beth shrugged her shoulders as she wrapped it up in aluminum foil. "Thought I'd share a plate with Daryl. He was up late the past two nights keeping watch."

The comment came out so casual, that Maggie and Glen gave each other a knowing look before turning their attention elsewhere. Maggie spooned what fruit she had onto the plates, and Glen gratefully pulled his toward him while Beth grabbed up the plates and headed for the door.

"Be careful, sis," Maggie hollered. Beth looked back at her with a small smile before the door shut behind her.

Beth made her way over to the house two doors down where she knew Daryl would be staying at. Technically, it was Rick's home, and even though Beth offered for Daryl to stay with her, he insisted on staying over there. Saying something along the lines of 'It has more space.'

Beth didn't believe that for a moment, she knew that while Rick insisted that Judith sleep in the same room as him, Carl still set up a room just for her, and that pretty much left Daryl sleeping on the couch. Unless he was sleeping in the small princess bed that Carl had found.

When the front porch came into view, Beth paused to find the red headed woman that gave them the small tour the day before standing at the door with Daryl leaning casually against the frame. There was a smile spread across her face as she leaned toward the hunter and said something. Daryl smiled at whatever she said, and didn't stop the woman when she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Beth froze, her eyes glued to the scene as she watched the woman continue to flirt with the old redneck for several seconds before she held up what looked to be a basket full of food.

Daryl took the basket and stood up. Beth noted him nodding his head in farewell and the woman placed another hand on his arm. Beth took that as her cue to leave, and just as she turned she heard the familiar gruff voice of Daryl hollering her name.

Closing her eyes, Beth took in a deep breath, and turned back to face him. He was standing on the steps now, waiting for her with the other woman. Shaking off the odd feeling of being the third wheel, she stepped toward him.

"Hey," she said, hoping her voice came out normal. "Made some pretty nice omelets this morning and thought you would want one."

She held the plate out for him, and Daryl took it from her. "Omelets, huh."

He lifted the foil off the plate, and peeked at the food inside. A smile graced his lips, and Beth felt the knot in her stomach loosen a bit.

"Haven't had an omelet in ages," he admitted. Beth smiled at the statement, and looped her fingers through her belt loops as she waited for him to say something else. When the silence grew awkward Beth looked toward the red-haired woman then back at Daryl.

"So what's the plans for today?" She asked, motioning toward the door to let him know that she meant Rick's plans.

Daryl shrugged. "Their pretty content in there. Still sleeping, in fact."

Beth rose her eyebrows at that. She couldn't remember a time when Rick would out sleep everyone.

"Mickey and I were just talking about going for a perimeter check." He nodded toward the woman next to him, and Beth frowned at the statement.

"Oh, well, maybe I could go with you," Beth said, letting her eyes meet Daryl's. He began nodding his head in agreement just as Mickey spoke up.

"Actually, we were wondering if you could help at the pre-school today. A little birdie said that you were really good with children." Her eyes darted over to Daryl, and Beth felt something begin bubbling up inside of her.

She looked between the two, and instead of speaking the angry words that wanted to form, she took a step back and nodded her head."Um, yeah, I can do that."

"Great, I'll let them know to expect you," she said then turned to Daryl. "And I'll be waiting for you at the front gates." She poked him in the chest with the biggest grin on her face, and it was then that Beth noticed he only had his vest on, leaving his chest bare for the world to see.

She quickly turned away from the sight as she felt her face heat up, and she could only imagine how red her face was at that moment.

Mickey took off, and Beth turned to leave, finished embarrassing herself for one day when Daryl's rough hands grabbed onto her forearm and stopped all movement.

"Hey, wait a minute," he said, pulling her back around to face him. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Fine, I slept fine," Beth replied, putting on her sincerest smile.

"No nightmares?" Daryl pressed, taking another step toward her. He knew how most nights went for her. How, since her return from the hospital, she would wake up in a cold sweat from whatever memory decided to prey on her mind that night.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," Beth answered, having to bend her neck back to look into his face now that he was standing closer.

"You know your welcome over here-" Daryl began to say before Beth shook her head.

"I don't need a babysitter, Daryl," she said, looking away from him and taking a step back. Daryl looked taken back by her statement, his eyes furrowing together as he reached for her arm yet again.

"I know that, Beth, I'm just concerned is all."

Beth started walking backwards as she shook her head. "Well, don't. I'm not your burden. I'm not anyone's burden."

She turned away from him then, practically running away from him as Daryl hollered, "I never said that, Beth."

Beth didn't stop until she was back inside her house with Maggie and Glen. Both of them looked at her with quizzical stares.

"I thought you were eating breakfast with Daryl?" Glen asked, sitting up straighter when Beth just walked right past them.

"Not hungry," she replied as she walked into her room and slammed the door shut.

The couple looked at each other for a moment before Maggie stood up and headed in that direction.

"Beth?" she said quietly, knocking on the door before trying to open it. The door was locked, and fear gripped her heart as she knocked on the door again. "Are you okay?"

An exhausted gasp answered her before Beth said, "I'm fine. Just getting dressed."

Maggie smiled at her response and leaned against the door frame. "You are dressed."

"Not for my new job," Beth said as she opened the door. Sure enough, she'd changed into a regular T-shirt with a jacket over it.

"What job?" Maggie looked her up and down, taking in the new attire that accompanied the irritated look on her sister's face.

"Teacher," Beth explained, tugging the hem of her shirt down as she pushed past Maggie. "I get to play teacher to a bunch of snotty brats all day."

Maggie raised an eyebrow to her tone, but followed after her in the kitchen as Beth grabbed an apple from one of the boxes.

"You like children," Maggie pointed out, crossing her arms, hoping Beth would open up to what was really wrong with her.

Beth let out a long sigh as she turned toward Maggie. "I know, I just-" She let the words die out as she looked down at the apple in her hand. "Just forget about it. It's stupid."

Beth couldn't stop the slump in her shoulders as she pushed past her sister. She knew Maggie had seen it, and almost teared up when Maggie placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Beth replied, shrugging her sister's hand off and heading out the door. She kept her head bowed as she made her way past Rick's house. Doing her best to ignore the feeling of a certain redneck's hard stare.

Taking care of the preschoolers wasn't so bad. Beth even found she enjoyed being around the little ones, and loved hearing them tell her their crazy stories, and their bright laughs. It reminded her that there was still good in this world. Even if it only came from little hearts, and tiny hands. There weren't that many – only three at the moment – and Beth smiled when she realized this small fact. It allowed her a chance to actually sit down the little four year old's and have one on one time with them to go over their ABC's and what not.

When lunch hour came, Beth walked outside with them, happy to see their folks coming to take them for the day. When she reached the common area, she found Maggie and Glen sitting down with Michonne and Carl, eating a bowl of soup. She grabbed her own bowl and joined them, her mood definitely improved from that morning. Maggie must have noticed it too, because she leaned over so that she could whisper in Beth's ear.

"Told you, you loved the kids."

Beth's smile grew as she nodded her head, but otherwise remained silent as she listened to Carl complain about having to be in any kind of schooling.

"I mean, why do I have to go. It's not like I'm going to be getting a business degree and making a million dollars."

"You don't know that," Beth said, interrupting his rant. He looked at her in disbelief and Beth continued."I mean, what they got here. This shows that the world could go back to normal one day." She gestured to the small community around them. There were shop carts opened, and the building being used for the hospital/school sat across from them and there was even a small set of office buildings that the men in charge used as their daily offices.

Carl rolled his eyes at her. "Those days are long gone, Beth."

Michonne reached across the table to smack him on the arm. "You don't know that."

Carl shrugged, but otherwise remained silent. Beth leaned over to take another spoonful of her soup and suddenly felt her appetite go out the window when two more people joined their table.

Beth looked up to see Daryl staring at her while Mickey sat down next to him with her body fully turned into his.

"How's your day been?" he asked, ignoring the red head next to him.

Beth didn't bother looking up as she shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Fine."

She took another spoonful of her soup and muttered something about having to get back to the school before moving away from the grinning redhead that was sitting awfully close to Daryl.

The next two days would go about the same. Beth would get up, and ignore Daryl's stare as she walked down the street. Even going as far as scrounging up an old MP3 player that she could shove into her ears so that it would be easier to pretend not to hear him calling for her from his place on the porch.

When the school day was over, she would join her small group that gathered in the town common area every day for lunch until Daryl and Mickey would appear. Then she would sulk off back to the school to clean up after her three students.

It was becoming a peculiar routine for the small blonde not to talk to Daryl. So much so, that in the evenings at dinner time, Beth would opt for sitting with Rick and his small family instead of next to her own that always sat next to Daryl so that Glen and he could exchange stories from the day.

Rick lifted his eyebrow at the silence from the girl the second night as a loud laugh echoed across the table from the redheaded Mickey that seemed to have just integrated herself into the group without explanation. Beth didn't say word, except cringe when Daryl's own chuckle joined the woman's and Beth promptly stood, grabbing her plate as well as those closest to her and ignoring the odd stares from the people around her as she proceeded to wash them in the community wash bucket before heading home for the night.

The next day, she believed things were going to go as usual when she caught sight of her sister sitting by herself at a table far from the rest of the group.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, motioning to the distance between them and Michonne and Carl.

"Nothing, just wanted to spend some quality time with my baby sister." Maggie explained, shrugging off the odd behavior.

"Okay," Beth said, not buying the lie. "What do you want?"

Again Maggie shrugged as she glanced over to Glen and noticed Daryl and Mickey sliding into the seat at that moment. Beth noticed the couple as well, and her eyes instantly darted to the food sitting in front of her.

"Care to explain what's going on with you and Daryl?" Maggie asked, not bothering to beat around the bush anymore. She tried waiting to see if Beth would open up to her, but her sister only seemed to shut down more the longer this went on.

"Nothing," Beth explained, continuing to push her food around the plate.

"Exactly, you two used to be inseparable. Now you won't even sit in the same room with him for more than five minutes."

Beth remained silent, but Maggie didn't miss the small glare she sent over in their direction. When she looked, she noticed Mickey leaned into Daryl to tell him something and a small smirk playing on the man's lips.

"Is that what this is all about?" Maggie asked, gaping at her sister in disbelief. "Are you jealous of that girl."

"Oh please," Beth argued, shoving her fork into the food a bit more aggressively than needed. "There's nothing to be jealous about."

"But you are jealous," Maggie pointed out, eying her sister up and down for a moment before turning to her own plate.

"Why do you think that?" she asked, dropping her onto the table and grabbing her cup. "It's not like Daryl and me were even a couple, so there's nothing for me to be upset about."

Beth slammed her glass onto the table with a bit more force than necessary, shattering the glass in the process.

"Shit," she muttered, watching the tiny drops of blood slipping from her palm onto the table, and Beth gripped her wrists as she inspected the shard thoroughly imbedded in the palm of her hand.

"Right," Maggie said, moving around the table so that she could help her sister. "Let me see that."

"No!" Beth shouted, getting the surrounding people's attention as she yanked her hand away from Maggie and stood. "I'm fine. I can handle it myself."

Beth stormed away from her sister and past the other part of her group, ignoring Daryl as he stood and hollered her name.

When she reached the makeshift hospital, she was glad to hear that one of the nursing assistants would be able to help her, and it wasn't long before she found herself sitting on an old hospital cot with a young blonde haired boy standing in front of her with tweezers.

"Care to explain how this happened?" he asked, smiling a charming smile that made Beth blush as he took her hand to remove the glass.

"Got careless I guess," she replied, keeping her head down so that her hair could fall in front of her face. " Was arguing with my sister, and let my temper get out of hand."

"Ahh yes, I had a couple of them myself once, their very good at pushing the wrong buttons." His grin widened, and Beth couldn't stop the smile that broke across her face for the first time in days.

"Tell me about it," Beth said, nodding her head in agreement.

His smile grew at her words before he looked down at her hand and turned serious. Comfortable silence grew around them as he concentrated on pulling out the rather large shard of glass. When he was he held it up for her inspection, and smiled before throwing it onto the table next to him and turning to inspect her wound more closely.

"Well, doesn't look like it's going to need stitches, but I am going to wrap it up and you just make sure it stays clean." The boy said, unrolling a bit of gauze that sat next to him.

"Easy enough, thanks..." Beth said, squinting her eyes as she realized she didn't even know his name.

"Zach," he supplied for her, meeting her gaze for a moment.

"Thanks Zach." She smiled at him, and moved to brush a piece of hair behind her ear when the door opened up and a disgruntled looking hunter glared at them.

"You okay, Beth?" he asked, marching over and yanking Beth's hand out of Zach's so that he could examine it.

"Ahh, you must be the father," Zach said, chuckling as he backed away from the two of them.

"Do I look like her father?" Daryl asked, turning to glare at the younger man. Zach gaped at him for a moment before turning his gaze to Beth for answers.

"Uncle then?" he said, looking at both of them for confirmation.

"Damn it, boy." Daryl ground out as he took a step toward Zach. Beth noticed the look in his eyes, and jumped off the bed to step between the two guys.

"He's just an old friend," she said, turning her back to Daryl. "We're part of the same group that came in together."

An awkward silence fell over the group as they two men continued staring each other down.

"Oh," said Zach, looking between the two. Not getting anymore out of them he quickly continued, "Well then, I'll see you around Beth." He smiled at her first for a split second before his eyes turned toward a glowering Daryl.

"Yeah," Beth replied, pushing Daryl out the door in front of her. "Thanks Zach."

When the door closed, Beth pushed past Daryl hoping to get away without another word, but was stalled when Daryl grabbed her arm and brought her to an abrupt stop.

"Don't touch me," she said, yanking her arm out of his grip and continuing on her way.

"Oh, so, Doc Robinson can paw all over you, but your 'Old Friend' can't look at your wound." The irritated tone in his voice made Beth halt in her tracks for a split second before she threw her head back in frustration and continued on.

"Damn it, Beth," he said, once again coming forward to grab her arm. This time Beth swung at him, slapping him across his face with her injured palm. As soon as she did, she hissed and cradled her sore hand to her chest as the two stared each other down.

"What are you even doing here?"

Daryl rubbed at his sore cheek for a moment before shaking his head. "Your sister was concerned about you."

Beth raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Then why isn't she here?"

"Forget it," he mumbled, shoving past her and out the door. Beth stared at his retreating back with a heavy weight settling in her stomach. Not knowing what else to do, she shook her head and headed home. Hoping that an afternoon nap would help her feel better, and find some other way to resolve the issues with her favorite hunter.

Night time found Beth sitting on the front porch just taking in the fresh air as she absorbed everything that happened that afternoon. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, in fact, that she didn't see the rather large figure walk up to her until he was sitting down next to her.

She jumped at first, moving to get away from him before she recognized the long hair and crossbow that rested next at his side.

"Damn you scared me," she said, clutching her chest and looking around for a small figure that seemed to be attached to him these days.

"Lucky I wasn't a walker," he replied smirking at his poor joke. Beth gave him a half smile as she curled her arms around herself and rested her head on her arms, just staring off into space again. She tried to block out how nice it was to have him close again, and focus on anything else that would keep her from remembering that in the morning he would just go back to the for her, Daryl remained in her peripheral vision, and she cringed when she noticed the red mark still on his cheek.

The red spot brought on a huge wave of guilt as she thought about her out burst that afternoon, and she took in a shaky breath before saying, "Sorry about that."

Her hand moved to indicate his cheek, and Daryl rubbed at it.

"No biggie. Other girls have done worse to me in the past." He smiled to reassure her but Beth still shrugged.

"Still, shouldn't have happened." Beth met his eyes for the first time, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders in response. Unwilling to say anything else on the matter, Beth let her eyes roam to the surrounding area looking for the cause of her ill temper.

"Where's Mickey?" Beth asked, curious if his recent counterpart was going to appear anytime soon.

"Hell, if I know," Daryl replied, biting on his thumb. It was a move that Beth was accustomed to, and it intrigued her interest enough that it got her sit up a little straighter as he continued. "Only have the energy to keep up with one damn girl around here, and she's making it fucking impossible at the moment." Daryl continued, spitting onto the ground as he looked hard at Beth.

Beth met his gaze back for a moment before focusing her attention on a string that was hanging from her worn out pajama bottom."Maybe if you explained to the damn girl where she stood with you, then it wouldn't be so impossible." Beth countered, peeking at Daryl from beneath her eyelashes to see his reaction.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at her, but otherwise remained silent for several seconds longer, and Beth wondered if her statement pushed some boundary with him. When he turned his focus onto the houses across the street, Beth felt her shoulders slump forward in defeat.

"Well, I wouldn't have to explain nothing if my girl didn't turn tail and run the moment she sees me talking to another woman." Daryl chewed on his nail some more while the words sunk in.

Beth's eyes went wide, and a knot formed in her stomach as the words 'my girl' registered. Shaking the shock from her face, she looked down to the ground to let her hair fall and create a curtain between her and the man that was making her face turn beet red.

"Well, maybe your girl wouldn't of been so quick to judge if you didn't flirt with the other woman so much," Beth countered, again peeking at him through her hair. "Especially when the other girl is closer to your age and can relate to you better, and has the bigger rack."

Daryl snorted at the last bit. "Please, she's got nothing I want."

Beth looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Oh yeah?"

Daryl rubbed his chin as his eyes moved upward in mock concentration.

"Well, those are some nice boobs," he said, smiling when Beth's mouth fell open and she reached over to smack him. Daryl grabbed her arm at the last second and pulled her over until she was straddling him. He took a moment to run his hands along her arms, taking comfort in the feel of her in his arms again before looking up to find that Beth was still hiding behind her curtain of hair.

"Why do you Greene girls have to be so damn stubborn?" he asked, cupping her face with both of his hands until she turned her head up to stare at him.

"Why do you Dixon boys have to be so damn hard headed," she answered back, leaning forward so that their foreheads made contact.

"Fair enough," Daryl replied, twisting his fingers in her hair until he could use it to pull her head away from him. "No more silent treatment, understood."

Beth chewed on her bottom lip, drawing Daryl's attention there as she nodded her head.

"You have a problem, we talk it through," he said, doing his best to hide the change in his voice as he continued watching her chew on her lip. When he wasn't able to take any more, he gripped her hair a bit harder, making her gasp and stop the infernal movement.

"Understood?" he asked again, pulling his gaze from her mouth long enough to meet her stare.

Beth nodded her head and repeated, "Understood."

Daryl ran his thumb along her bottom lip while staring into her eyes for a moment longer. When he was satisfied with her reply, he mumbled "okay," and captured her lips with his. Making sure the kiss was deep enough, and long enough to ensure she understood just what she meant to him without words


End file.
